Several hours later authorities reached the man by phone, but negotiations failed, deputies said. When the SWAT team entered the home around 10:30 p.m., deputies found it had been doused in gasoline.

The man shot at deputies from a bedroom, Antu said. No SWAT team members were hit, but the deputies involved have been placed on routine administrative leave while the sheriff's office reviews the shooting.

Family members wept outside the home, declining comment.

Neighbors said they were shocked by the chaotic scene in what they described as a relatively quiet neighborhood.

Louise Rodriguez and her family had just pulled up to their home when the first gunshots were fired. They sounded like firecrackers, she said.

“At first we didn't know they were shots,” Rodriguez said. “But we saw the cops, and we put two and two together. We hid behind our vehicles.”

Down the street, Chrissy Rivera was throwing birthday parties for two of her children. She scrambled to get them to safety, she said.

“I had a house full of nine kids,” she said. “I told them to go to the back of the room and lay on the floor.”

Rodriguez, who has lived in the area for 12 years, said she remembered another incident that rattled the neighborhood — the death of teacher Diane Tilly. Her nearby home was ransacked before she went missing in November 2004.

“But that was not anything like this,” she said of Saturday night's shooting. “I've never seen anything like this.”

Tammy Buckley, who lives nearby, said she was alarmed when saw birds scurry from the trees at the sound of gunshots.